Participants: Pr. Lyle Albrecht
Series Code: RIN
Program Code: RIN000009
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00:59 Welcome to each of you.
01:03 It's good to see you always. 01:06 You're faces are becoming familiar to me. 01:09 Becoming like family. 01:11 And if I were to look out now and see some of you missing, 01:16 I would feel badly. 01:17 So don't let me down, alright? 01:20 Tonight's travel is very, very special. 01:22 I want you to fasten your seatbelts while 01:23 the lights go down. 01:24 We're going to go together to Masada. 01:28 It's a rock down on the shores of the Dead Sea. 01:33 We're, from the top of the rock, looking down now 01:36 upon the Dead Sea. 01:37 In distance, we're only about 30 miles, perhaps a little less 01:41 than that from Jerusalem. 01:43 We are a bit to the east and a fair bit to the south. 01:47 The waters of the Dead Sea, by the way, 01:51 are some of the most interesting in all of the world. 01:55 There is so much salt, saline, and other kinds of chemicals 02:00 I guess, in the water that you easily float. 02:05 Folks go down there to swim and because you don't have to 02:09 worry about putting those little water wings on the kids. 02:11 Everybody floats. 02:13 And the fascinating thing is that if you have a fair amount 02:18 of body fat, you float higher and higher still. 02:22 Curious the way.. 02:23 I got in there and didn't even get wet. 02:29 Now here we are from the shore of the Dead Sea 02:32 looking at Masada. 02:34 And I want you to notice something here 02:37 from this vantage point. 02:38 I'm going to use my pointer. 02:40 Right in the middle of the screen, there you'll see 02:43 a zigzag trail. 02:44 That's called the snake trail, ladies and gentlemen. 02:47 And for hundreds of years, that was the only way up to the top. 02:51 There was a ladder that allowed you to 02:54 make the last 20 or 30 feet. 02:58 How big is the thing? 02:59 Well, it's 1400 feet high, this rock 03:03 that juts up out of the desert. 03:04 And the top is flat and it's about 03:08 2000 feet in length at the top. 03:12 And the shape is very much like the flat iron that we use to 03:15 heat to iron the clothes with. 03:17 Anybody old enough to remember that? 03:19 No? Alright. 03:21 Well in any event, 150 years before the birth of Jesus, 03:28 a Jew by the name of Jonathan went up there and built a fort, 03:34 because it was a place of refuge for Jewish warriors 03:38 who were fighting against the Syrians at the time of 03:42 the Hasmonean Revolt. 03:45 They built a wall around the place. 03:46 How did they do that? 03:47 Well, they went over the side and quarried back in to the 03:53 earth that is much stone like. 03:55 And then they brought those blocks up over and placed them 03:59 in a perimeter around the top of it. 04:02 Well, after the Hasmonean Revolt, it was used 04:06 really as just kind of a place of resort. 04:09 A place to go up and have a nice view. 04:12 A place to give you some good exercise if you climbed 04:15 from the bottom up toward the top. 04:16 You had a wonderful view then of the Valley of Zin 04:20 and the Dead Sea. 04:21 And you could, on a clear day, see to the north up to the 04:25 beautiful mountains of snow at the north end of the Dead Sea. 04:31 But this place began to take on an air of serious importance 04:36 when about 60 before Christ the Romans took the place 04:45 and continued to hold it until Herod, Herod the Great, 04:51 decided that he would go up there and make it 04:53 a winter palace and a winter resort. 04:55 And that he did. 04:56 He built two great palaces up on the top of the place. 04:59 And it was very safe. 05:00 Any enemy would have to do the zigzag thing 05:04 to try to get up there. 05:05 And then once they were near the top, they'd have to climb 05:08 the ladder to gain entry. 05:09 And it'd be pretty easy to push them back over. 05:11 So Herod built a great palace with wonderful views. 05:14 Two palaces, both of them with wonderful, wonderful views. 05:18 Now, we're going to move forward in time and in importance. 05:24 In 66 AD, a revolt among the Jews against the Romans 05:29 who were ruling the world, broke out. 05:35 Titus Vespasian, Rome's most able general, initially sent 05:40 his general, Silva, over to the Holy Land 05:44 to put down the Jewish rebellion. 05:47 Up north from Jerusalem at a village called Jotapata, 05:50 the Jews had built a wall around the city and were on the inside 05:55 laughing at the Romans. 05:56 Silva went around a hill and out of site and had his soldiers 06:00 build a battering ram. 06:03 And then they brought the battering ram around the 06:06 corner of the hill and the folks on the inside stopped laughing. 06:09 They rolled that huge war machine up against the wall. 06:13 And on the third strike of the ram, the wall caved in 06:18 and the Romans moved in and destroyed the place. 06:23 Down in Jerusalem, the folks heard what had been happening 06:28 up north in Jotapata. 06:30 And they decided they would reinforce 06:32 their wall in Jerusalem. 06:34 And that they did. 06:37 Titus Vespasian himself, decided it was time to join the battle 06:40 because Silva was going to have a tough fight down at Jerusalem. 06:44 And so he came down and instead of building a battering ram, 06:48 instead of trying to knock down the wall, 06:50 he simply played the waiting game. 06:52 He put the Roman legions in a perimeter around 06:56 the city of Jerusalem. 06:57 He knew that on the inside they had sufficient water 07:00 to last for days and days and days. 07:02 But he also knew that they did not have enough food 07:06 to last for more than a couple of months. 07:12 By the 82nd day of the siege, the folks inside 07:17 were cannibalizing their dead. 07:19 Babies were dying and the old and the sick were dying. 07:23 And the Jews were cannibalizing them. 07:26 And a group of them, under the cover of darkness, 07:29 decided it was time to get out of town. 07:31 And so, about 1000 of them made their way, slipped out of 07:35 the city and made their way over to the Dead Sea area 07:39 and went up the snake trail and got inside. 07:43 960 to be exact. 07:46 That included men and women and children. 07:49 Now there's an aerial view of the top of the place. 07:51 You see it's not unlike the shape of an iron. 07:53 And if you look down around the base, by the way, 07:56 you can see some of the stones still, 07:58 some of the foundation stones of the camps that the Romans 08:04 placed there when they came to take this thing back in 73 AD. 08:10 To get there today, you can get aboard this tram. 08:14 You see the folks going, but still at the very top of it all, 08:18 you have to climb a ladder. 08:19 There it is. 08:21 The tram doesn't go all of the way to the top. 08:22 So you climb the ladder the last 30 or 40 feet 08:26 to gain an entrance to the top. 08:28 Now, let's talk together about what happened in 73 AD. 08:37 Generals Silva and Titus Vespasian, 08:40 who was soon to become the Emperor of all of Rome, 08:42 moved in on this place. 08:45 They had taken Jerusalem and all of the other wild fires 08:50 of Jewish revolt in the surrounding areas 08:53 and they moved the armies here. 08:55 And up on the top, the Jews began to laugh at them. 09:00 Laughing, "Ha ha, do your best. Catch us if you can. " 09:04 That was the idea. 09:06 A man by the name of Eleazar ben Jair 09:10 was the leader of the Jewish zealots. 09:13 And he led them in their clapping and in their hooting 09:16 and their howling. 09:18 So Silva decided that they would build a ramp on the 09:24 west side of this mountain. 09:26 And so he put the legions of Rome to work gathering rocks 09:30 and gathering dirt in wheel barrel like affairs, 09:33 and in bushel baskets and in sacks. 09:35 They began to carry earth to build a ramp. 09:38 And the Jews up inside laughed more loudly than ever. 09:43 "Even if they came up on that ramp, they'd never be able to 09:46 breach the wall. 09:47 They don't have a chance at all. " 09:50 Now as you look up there, you see the remains 09:53 of one of the palaces that was built by Herod the Great. 09:58 You can imagine spending the winter time up there, can't you. 10:00 There is plenty of forced labor to bring him everything 10:03 that his heart desired. 10:05 There is plenty of water for they would fill those cavities, 10:09 those caves from which they had taken the stone 10:12 to build the wall and to build the palace, 10:14 filled them up with water. 10:16 And you can imagine the chore that was. 10:18 Going to the Jordan with horses and wagons and some other 10:22 devices perhaps, and getting fresh water and bringing it here 10:25 and then laboriously taking it up snake trail, up to the top. 10:30 But if you have enough men, it doesn't really matter. 10:33 If you have all that power. 10:37 And now we're up near the top and we're looking back down. 10:41 Imagine the Roman soldiers with spades. 10:45 Not good shovels like we have today, but really crude 10:49 instruments digging up the dirt and putting a few rocks 10:52 in a bag or in a basket and carrying them over and 10:56 putting them and then tamping them down, 10:58 and tamping them down. 11:00 Months and months and months went by. 11:05 And the ramp grew and grew. 11:08 But still on the inside the Jews laughed out loud. 11:12 Now we're going to take a look at some of the ruins 11:15 that date back to the time of Herod the Great. 11:18 Well, you see those great stones? 11:19 Those stones are the drums, or sections, from the Greek 11:24 style pillars of the temple and the palace. 11:27 And you can see that they had carvings in them 11:30 to make them very lovely. 11:31 And after they were all finished and put together, 11:35 then the craftsmen striated them and painted them 11:39 so that from a distance they looked like marble. 11:42 They looked like something that had certainly come from Greece 11:45 or maybe from Rome itself. 11:47 And they were living the good life up here. 11:49 Having a good time. Plenty to eat. 11:51 Plenty of fresh water. 11:54 Now, hold the revolt of 73 in your minds 11:59 and let me bring you to modern time. 12:02 In 1971-72, an archaeologist and a brilliant political mind, 12:11 a man by the name of Dr. Yigael Yadin 12:14 who would teach archaeology and Hebrew history at 12:18 Hebrew University in the city of Jerusalem, came here 12:21 and began an archaeological dig. 12:23 And he found armaments, pieces of armor and weaponry 12:27 that dated back to the times before Jesus. 12:31 A 100 years before Jesus in the Hasmonean revolt. 12:33 And then he found the absolute proof of the palaces 12:37 of Herod the Great. 12:39 And some of the other things. 12:40 There are lines that go through these stone walls 12:43 that they have put back together. 12:44 Sometimes we can see them pretty well and other times we can't. 12:48 But below that black line, that we may see soon, 12:52 the stones that are standing there are original. 12:56 They date back to the time of Herod 12:58 and the final revolt in 73. 13:00 And the stones above that were placed there in 1973. 13:03 Now this is one of the water tunnels, one of the holes, 13:07 one of the mines if you please, from which they took that 13:10 building material and then filled it up with water 13:14 to make it to become a reservoir. 13:17 We're walking in and amongst the ruins now 13:20 that date back to the time... 13:21 There's one of those black lines. 13:22 Right in the very center of the picture is that kind of 13:25 crooked black line. 13:26 Everything beneath that is original. 13:28 It dates back to the time of Herod the Great. 13:31 And everything above it has been replaced 13:33 since the time of the archaeological digs. 13:38 Some of the buildings have been put back intact and we could 13:41 go inside to discover the nice lifestyle that many lived. 13:46 For they had hot and cold water treatments here. 13:49 And they had steam baths. 13:51 Yes, here it is. The bath house. 13:53 Can you imagine, again, carrying the water up there. 13:57 That was a chore. 13:58 In the floor there, you see the results of where the fire burned 14:02 and where once the tiles were. 14:07 Here is the well or the cistern. 14:09 Now you can imagine, the Roman soldiers that are 14:13 working down below. 14:14 And they have to send details miles and miles and miles away 14:19 to get fresh water. 14:20 And it's a constant job and a constant worry. 14:22 And you're allowed only just a few ounces every few hours. 14:26 And up here the Jews, on the other hand, are going 14:30 back in there cistern and bringing out gallons and gallons 14:34 and gallons of drinking water. 14:35 And on occasion, from up on the wall they would throw over 14:39 a gallon or two. 14:40 And the Roman soldiers that are building that ramp 14:44 up near the top, would run to try to lap it up. 14:47 But of course, it would become mud before they could get to it. 14:50 Coming out of the bath house there. 14:54 Now here, ladies and gentlemen, today 14:57 is the evidence of that ramp. 15:00 The engineers of the Roman legions, every so many yards 15:05 put in a great tree trunk. 15:08 They buried the thing down 15 or 18 feet, and left standing up 15:13 a stomp about 5 feet. 15:15 And up inside, the Jews wondered why. 15:19 "What's going on, what do they think they're doing? 15:20 What a joke. 15:21 Do they think it's going to grow?" 15:24 But the Romans had a plan. 15:26 They continued to build the ramp 15:28 and build the ramp until they had it right up 15:32 to the base of the wall. 15:34 And the Roman soldiers could march up to the top. 15:37 But on the inside, the zealous Jews would 15:41 laugh at them the more and throw rocks down at them. 15:46 What the Jews did not know was that again 15:48 a big battering ram around the hill and out of site 15:52 was being built. 15:54 What was the purpose of those tree trunks? 15:57 Well, that was to give leverage to the pulleys 16:00 to wench that big battering ram up to the top of the mountain. 16:04 And when the battering ram was lifted up, raised up and 16:09 brought around the corner, the zealots up on the top 16:12 stopped their laughing. 16:14 They knew it was only a matter of time now. 16:17 And they would wench and push and pull, 16:20 and would block and tackle, move a few yard every day 16:23 that great battering ram. 16:27 When the Romans got the ram up to the top, 16:33 they cocked it and struck against the wall and the wall 16:36 shuttered but it did not give in. 16:38 For on the inside, they had lined this area behind the ramp 16:43 and above the ramp with great timbers. 16:46 They had dismantled some of the temple work of Herod the Great 16:49 and reinforced the wall until it was strong enough to 16:54 withstand, I suppose, a blast of dynamite. 16:56 Or at least that was the thinking of the 16:58 folks on the inside. 16:59 They cocked the ram and struck it again. 17:01 And the earth, the rock earth began to crumble some. 17:06 And they did it again and again and again. 17:08 And the rocks crumbled away. 17:11 Now, there were the reinforced timbers. 17:15 "What now do we do?" 17:17 Someone got an idea. 17:19 Let's burn our way through. 17:21 The timbers were pitchy. 17:24 On the inside, it was time for a meeting. 17:30 And so the leader, of whom I've already spoken, Eleazar, 17:34 gathered the men together and he said to them, 17:37 "If the Romans break in, they're going to desecrate 17:42 our women and our children. 17:45 It's going to be ugly, it's going to be nasty. 17:47 And then they're going to destroy every one of us. 17:51 And I, personally, am not willing to die by their hands. " 17:57 He said, "I have a plan. " 18:00 "My plan is this, that when we go to bed tonight, 18:04 because tomorrow they're going to start the fire. 18:07 And in just a short while it will burn through. 18:11 When we go to bed tonight, we sleep together with our 18:16 families, love our children, hold them in our arms. 18:20 And after the families are asleep and the children and 18:22 the women know nothing of what's going on, 18:27 a death guard will go through the camp 18:32 and will kill everybody. 18:36 And when he has killed everybody, this man will 18:40 fall upon his own sword and will take his own life. 18:45 Do you agree?" 18:46 And they voted, and it was unanimous. 18:49 And the men went back to their home, back to their places, 18:52 back to their families, and as if nothing was wrong 18:55 they shared the last evening meal together. 18:58 And then they went to their places of rest. 19:03 And on the outside of the wall, the Roman soldiers 19:06 went up the battering ram, used it as a final approach 19:11 to the timbers, threw burning material upon the timbers. 19:16 Tar and pitch like substances, rosins. 19:19 And then put the torch to them. 19:22 And it happened that the wind was blowing in just the 19:24 right direction and it began to act like a blow torch. 19:29 And within about 12 hours, 10 to 12 hours, 19:33 a hole was burned through. 19:35 And the Roman soldiers now began to douse the flames and 19:39 beat against them with dampened sacks. 19:44 Then the general asked, "Are you ready? 19:47 Are you men ready?" 19:49 "Yes, we're ready. " 19:50 They had their weapons in their hands. 19:52 And they lined up, with two abreast, they went 19:55 across the battering ram. 19:57 And they jumped through the burned hole inside. 20:00 And they shouted the charge. 20:02 And they were sure now that the Jews would come out of 20:04 wherever they were hiding. 20:07 But nothing happened. 20:08 And their echoes fell back upon their own ears. 20:13 They decided it's a trick. 20:15 And so, they went back out through the burned hole 20:18 and regathered around the ram and replanned. 20:22 And then they made another charge. 20:25 And when about 150 soldiers had gotten through, 20:28 they gave the word, "There's no one here. 20:31 It seems there's no one here. " 20:32 And so the rest of the army, hundreds, went through 20:35 the burned opening. 20:36 And they began to go into the houses. 20:41 And there they saw the carnage. 20:43 All were gone. 20:48 In a remote corner and in a bit of a hole, 20:54 there they found two ladies and five little children 20:59 who had caught, somehow, word of what was going to happen 21:03 and decided they did not want to die in that way. 21:06 They were the only survivors of this great tragedy 21:10 atop the mountain of Masada. 21:14 Today, many many, hundreds in fact, 21:19 of the young Jewish boys are taken to the top 21:23 of the mountain, they relive the story, 21:26 and there they are given bar mitzvah 21:30 and welcomed into the religious circle. 21:32 But more importantly, I think, the Jewish officers, 21:38 and for the last 50 years the Jewish army has been the most 21:43 powerful army in all of the Middle East. 21:45 We've talked about that on prior evenings. 21:48 And one of the reasons they're so very powerful, of course, is 21:51 that they have been trained by American servicemen. 21:55 And they have the weapons that have been made here. 21:58 With a few exceptions of their own automatic 22:00 machine guns and so forth. 22:02 The pilots have been trained here. 22:04 But, the officers climb the snake trail and up the ladder 22:11 and over the top. 22:13 And there they are commissioned, and there they take their vow, 22:18 "Never again. " 22:21 "Never again. " 22:24 And I think it is the history of the era and the story of Masada 22:30 that has made the army of Israel one of the finest 22:34 fighting machines in all this world. 22:38 I thank you for traveling with me. 22:44 Our subject tonight that we've entitled, 22:46 "Here I come, ready or not" 22:49 is built around the second coming of Jesus. 22:54 I'm going to be sharing some things this evening 22:59 that are going to touch a raw nerve in my own heart. 23:04 It's going to be difficult for me. 23:07 So I ask for your indulgence, please. 23:11 Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 1. 23:14 Revelation 23:16 The last book for those who live in the very last days 23:18 just before Jesus comes again. 23:20 Revelation chapter 1. 23:22 We read from Revelation chapter 1 last night. 23:24 And we shall again this evening. 23:27 We're going to read the scripture that is really 23:29 the theme of not only chapter 1, but of the whole of the 23:32 rest of the book. 23:33 It is the fulcrum, if you please, the balance point 23:37 for the rest of the book of Revelation. 23:39 Revelation chapter 1 verse 7. 23:42 I'm going to ask you to follow very carefully while I read, 23:44 if you will please. 23:45 It says, "Behold, He comes with clouds, 23:49 and a few of the folks are going to be able to see Him. " 23:52 Is that the way your Bible reads? 23:54 No? How many then? 23:55 ".. every eye shall see Him, including also 23:58 those who pierced Him. " 24:00 You remember when Jesus was standing before the Sanhedrin 24:04 at that farce of a trial? 24:06 And He said nothing. 24:09 And the High Priest said, "Why don't You answer?" 24:11 And Jesus said nothing. 24:12 And finally, the High Priest put Jesus under oath. 24:15 He said, "I adjure Thee by the living God. 24:18 Are You the Messiah or are You not?" 24:20 And the High Priest had done the same thing that in the 24:23 court of law we do today when we say to a witness, 24:26 "You place your hand upon the Bible. 24:28 Now do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, 24:30 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?" 24:34 The High Priest has put Jesus under the same kind of an oath. 24:38 "I adjure Thee by the living God. 24:41 Are You the Messiah?" 24:42 Now Jesus respected the oath and He answered and said, 24:46 as it reads in the King James, "Thou saith. " 24:49 Other translations say, "You said it correctly. 24:52 Indeed I am. " 24:53 And then He went on. 24:55 He said, "I tell you here after, you're going to see the 24:58 Son of Man coming in the clouds of glory 25:01 seated at the right hand of Power. " 25:03 And so Jesus, in a courtroom and under oath, said 25:07 and promised He would come again. 25:10 And now, here then is the evidence of the revelation. 25:14 Jesus said, "You evil vile men who have taken My life. 25:18 You who have plotted and planned and schemed against Me, 25:20 are going to be made alive to see Me when I come. " 25:24 And so we read here in Revelation chapter 1 verse 7, 25:26 "Every eye shall see Him, including also 25:29 those who pierced Him. " 25:30 Going to be made alive in a special resurrection 25:32 to see Him coming back. 25:34 And then he goes on to say, "And all kindred's of the earth 25:37 shall wail because of Him. Even so, amen. " 25:41 Truly, you can take it to the bank. 25:49 When I was married, my wife Peggy, 25:51 I worked for 6 years for her daddy who was a logging 25:55 contractor out of Baker City, Oregon. 25:58 Back then in the old timey days, it was simply Baker. 26:02 But now, of course, it's become much more sophisticated. 26:05 A lot of Idahoans have moved in and now it's Baker City. 26:16 You're right, it did. Yeah. 26:18 It started out originally as a mining camp. 26:20 Baker City. 26:21 But at any event, I worked for him for 6 years. 26:23 And my job was to load the trucks that hauled the logs 26:26 down to the saw mill. 26:28 And then we felt the call of God to go to Walla Walla University 26:32 to take and study Theology. 26:35 And that we did. 26:36 But during the summers, I would go back and run a machine 26:40 for Peggy's dad loading logs. 26:42 I'd just finished my sophomore year and had gone back 26:46 to work in the logging camps. 26:48 I'd been working for Peggy's dad for one week. 26:51 One week exactly. 26:52 On a Sunday morning, early, he got up and said, 26:56 "I'm going to go out to the job site 26:58 and build some skid trails. " 26:59 I didn't know exactly where he'd be, but he drew a map for us. 27:05 And he said, "You guys and the kids," 27:07 my wife's daddy's grandkids whom he loved so, who are 27:13 now about ages 7 and 8. 27:15 "You come out and meet me and we'll have a 27:18 picnic lunch together. " 27:21 So just about noon, Peggy and I and her mother and sister 27:26 went to the place that we were to meet. 27:29 And her daddy was not there. 27:35 I could see where caterpillar tracks had gone over 27:38 this side of the road and down into the brush. 27:43 And I took my little kids, one in each hand, and we 27:45 walked down there, I suppose 200 or 300 yards. 27:51 The further we went, the more steep became the ground. 27:56 Until finally it was so steep that you hardly needed to 28:01 bend over to tie your shoes. 28:03 We stopped and sat on some logs and listened and we could 28:07 hear nothing except, way down in the canyon, 28:11 the bleating of some sheep. 28:14 We went back up to the road and thought, perhaps 28:18 he's going to come in his pickup and meet us. 28:21 We waited about an hour and he did not show up. 28:24 And so we left after eating the little lunch alone. 28:28 Went back home to Baker. 28:31 And he didn't come in at the usual time. 28:35 Nor an hour later. 28:37 At about 3 hours later, there came a phone call. 28:43 And whomever answered motioned for me. 28:46 It happened to be one of Peggy's dad's foremen on the phone. 28:52 And he asked, "Are you sitting down?" 28:56 I said, "It's Oren, isn't it?" 28:59 "Yes," he said, "the caterpillar tipped over and 29:01 crushed him to death. " 29:10 Peggy's dad may have been the finest man I ever knew. 29:15 He was kind and gentle. 29:19 A combination of humor and reality, 29:26 blended in a way that everybody loved him. 29:28 I think, probably not a man that had worked for him more than 29:32 just a few months, would have at any time taken his place 29:36 to do the dirtiest job. 29:38 When we would come in, in the afternoon, from the 29:40 logging camps, the neighbor kids would come and 29:43 bring their little pets. 29:44 He would play with them and tease them. 29:46 And everybody loved him. 29:53 After the crowds had left the committal where we placed 29:56 his coffin in the ground, Peggy and our two kids, 30:02 Tammy and Terry, and Peggy's sister joined hands 30:07 over that fresh mound. 30:11 And we prayed that God would keep us faithful 30:17 so we could meet Grandpa Oren on the day of first resurrection. 30:30 A few months ago, Peggy and I were working in meetings 30:33 just like these in Lacey, Washington. 30:35 We'd opened on a Saturday night just as we did here. 30:38 And we opened to a full crowd, a full house. 30:41 Packed. 30:44 The next morning, Sunday morning, 30:46 I was running an errand. 30:47 Somewhere around 10:30 or 11:00, I had with me my cell phone, 30:50 it rang and I answered and it was my daughter-in-law, 30:54 my son Terry's wife. 30:58 She said, "Lyle, Terry's heart has stopped beating. 31:05 He's in the emergency room and I don't know 31:08 what's going to happen. " 31:14 I said, "Well keep us posted, please. 31:16 Minute by minute, keep us posted. " 31:18 And she said, "I promise you I will. " 31:21 And I turned around and I went back to Peggy and I told her, 31:23 "Something terrible has happened to Terry. " 31:30 She said, "What should we do? Should we head to the hospital?" 31:32 And I said, "They don't know enough about 31:34 what's going on yet. 31:35 They don't know what's caused it and maybe it's premature. " 31:39 And I said, "Besides that, I feel like I 31:40 can't leave the meeting. 31:41 We just started last night and it's a huge crowd. 31:44 And I don't feel like I can leave. " 31:48 A bit later, our daughter-in-law called and said, "His heart 31:52 now has a natural rhythm again and they have transferred 31:56 him to intensive care and things are looking better. " 31:59 And so I said to Peggy, "Let's have our meeting tonight. 32:04 I'll go and preach and you sit in the car and pray. 32:07 And as soon as I'm finished, we'll take off for Boise. " 32:10 And that we did. 32:13 In the event that I wouldn't be back the following night, 32:15 I left them some videos to play at the sermons 32:18 that I would have preached. 32:20 We drove through the night. 32:21 In the interim, our son Troy, who's a nurse from 32:24 Medford Oregon, had left his home several hours prior 32:27 and had arrived at Boise ahead of us. 32:30 And we met him there at about 5:30 in the morning 32:33 at the front entrance of the St. Luke's hospital. 32:38 He said, "I need to prepare you a little bit, mom and dad. 32:41 Firstly, he looks good. 32:44 He looks really good. " 32:47 "But," he said, "I'm afraid it's very serious. " 32:53 We went up to his room, 32:56 the Intensive Coronary Care Unit, 32:59 and he did look good. 33:03 His body was muscled. 33:08 Abs showed the result of working out. 33:13 He was the picture of health. 33:16 And I always told him, "You got all the looks in the family. " 33:20 Many folks had told us at many times that he 33:23 looked like Tom Selleck. 33:24 But I always said, "Oh no, he's so much better. " 33:30 So much better looking. 33:32 And the doctors would come and go and they would say, 33:35 we're going to do this test and we're doing this and 33:36 we're cooling his body down. 33:38 And in the interim, we learned what had happened. 33:42 My boy had been in 6, 6 automobile accidents 33:49 in the prior 16 years. 33:50 None of them his fault, curiously enough. 33:53 But one of them had been really tragic. 33:55 He'd been driving one Christmas morning, about 33:58 15 or 16 years ago now, to take a Christmas card 34:02 to the lady for whom he drove a big diesel truck. 34:05 And as he was driving his little compact car down the highway, 34:09 two men in a full sized pickup turned left 34:12 right in front of him. 34:13 Said they never saw him. 34:14 He didn't have time to touch a brake. 34:16 And he went into the windshield and the steering wheel 34:20 went into his chest. 34:21 And his feet were mashed as the little car crumbled 34:25 beneath him and around him. 34:26 And his back was broken and his right knee was shattered 34:30 and his leg was broken. 34:31 And he had a concussion and he was bleeding from the head. 34:34 And the nurse called me from the hospital and said, 34:37 "Your son has been in a terrible accident 34:39 and we're not sure that he's going to live. " 34:41 But he did live. 34:43 But he lived, after that, with a great amount of pain. 34:46 Terrible, terrible pain. 34:50 He'd gone to a number of doctors, including 34:52 some pain specialists. 34:53 And they really were not able to help him a lot. 34:55 He didn't want to get hooked on some of these powerful drugs. 34:59 He did everything that he could including 35:00 very healthful eating, exercising. 35:06 Two days prior to the event that I'm now describing, 35:10 he'd gone to a doctor in Ontario, Oregon. 35:13 And they doctor had given him hope and had given him help. 35:16 He said, "I feel better than I have in years 35:17 and years and years. " 35:18 And so he said, "Tomorrow," which was the Sabbath, 35:21 "let's load the dogs," for they had no children 35:24 but two German Shepherd dogs that are worse than kids. 35:28 "Let's load the dogs in the camper and we'll go down 35:30 to Boise and we'll go through the park. 35:32 And after sundown, we will eat at our 35:34 favorite Indian restaurant. 35:36 And then Sunday morning, we'll go to the pet shop and 35:39 we'll get some special things for the kids, the dogs. " 35:42 And so they did just that. 35:44 They went to the Indian restaurant and ate. 35:49 And then Terry drove their little RV to a commercial area 35:54 where he had delivered things from his trucking business. 36:00 There was a man-made lake and there was green grass. 36:04 And they played with the dogs and threw the Frisbees 36:07 and the balls and had a good time. 36:09 And then they went to bed with a plan that they would sleep in. 36:13 And next morning at leisure, they would get up 36:16 and go to the pet store. 36:17 And then go on back to Baker, Oregon. 36:22 Somewhere around 9:00 the next morning, 36:24 his wife, Brenda, wakened. 36:26 And she could tell he was breathing erratically. 36:33 And then she felt for his pulse and it was 36:35 very faint and very erratic. 36:37 And she began to try to help him to breathe 36:40 and at the same time call on her cell phone 911. 36:44 And the folks at the 911 end said, "Tell us where you are. 36:48 We'll send the ambulance. Please tell us where you are. " 36:50 And Brenda said, "I don't know where we are. 36:53 I don't have any idea, we came in here in the dark 36:55 and I'm not from here. I don't know. " 36:57 And the folks said, "You must go find a street corner and 36:59 give us an address, please. 37:01 You'll have to leave your husband. " 37:02 And so she left Terry and went to the nearest corner. 37:05 Ran and got bearings and ran back and called them again. 37:09 And in 3 minutes, they were there because they were 37:12 less than a half mile from the St. Luke's Hospital Meridian. 37:23 The doctor took us aside and he said, 37:25 "I'm afraid there may be serious brain damage, brain deficit, 37:31 because we don't know how long he was without oxygen. 37:35 But the signs aren't good. " 37:37 "This evening however," he said, "when things slow down 37:41 a bit, we're going to do a brain scan. " 37:45 So we took our little family and went to a restaurant 37:49 and prayed and ate. 37:52 Then went back to the hospital. 37:55 They brought Terry back up. 37:57 And I could see on the faces of the nurses, 38:01 the bad news. 38:06 My son, who takes care of patients who are in 38:09 exactly the same condition as his brother, knew 38:12 what was going on. 38:13 He'd read the charts. 38:15 And so he went to the charge nurse and he said, 38:18 "Give it to us just like it is. " 38:20 And she did. 38:23 She said, "The result of Terry's problem was a 38:27 hemorrhage from the brain. " 38:33 "And he is brain dead. " 38:47 We talked with Brenda. 38:49 Prayed. 38:53 Then called the nurse and said, 38:56 "We don't want to prolong this. " 39:01 If ever there was one ready to meet Jesus, it was my boy Terry. 39:07 Talked about Him, endlessly. 39:11 While he drove up and down the freeways in his truck, 39:14 he listened to the Bible on tapes and listened to other 39:18 Christian books and listened to Christian music always. 39:20 And he'd come to visit you and he talked so much about Jesus 39:23 and His love that sometimes you wished he'd 39:26 talk about something else. 39:27 I'd give a million dollars to hear him again. 39:40 Our son Troy said, "We can do this one of several ways. " 39:45 Said, "The fastest way to let him go is to turn off 39:50 his breathing machine. " 39:54 And he said, "It'll be a matter of minutes only. 39:58 But the last few moments are not going to be pretty. 40:01 He's probably going to convulse. " 40:09 He said, "My suggestion is that they turn off the 40:13 heart medicine machine. 40:16 It'll take a little while, but his heart will just slow down 40:19 and slow down, 40:22 and then stop. " 40:26 And so we gathered, his mother and I on one side, 40:31 his brother and wife on the other. 40:38 And we held him and hugged him, 40:42 and kissed him. 40:57 In one hour 41:03 he'd gone to sleep in Jesus. 41:22 We took his cremains, 41:35 we, just the close family; his brother, sister, nephews, 41:41 nieces, his mother, 41:47 put them in a little hole 41:52 atop his grandpa. 42:01 And his brother and sister closed the grave. 42:09 Then the immediate family gathered, again, 42:16 and prayed that same prayer. 42:23 "Keep us faithful, Lord. 42:30 Till we're caught up together. 42:37 Amen. " 42:48 When Thanksgiving came, Peggy said, 42:50 "I don't want to stay home. " 42:51 Our home was the gathering place for the kids and grandkids 42:54 and everybody, Thanksgiving and Christmas. 42:56 She said, "I just can't stand to be home. " 43:00 So our granddaughter, who just had a new baby... 43:04 Peggy, by the way, is a great grandmother. 43:07 Can you imagine that? 43:08 My Peggy is a great grandmother. 43:11 You know what that makes me. 43:15 Proud, by the way. 43:17 They said, "Come and be with us in Austin. 43:19 Fly down and we'll have Thanksgiving in Austin. 43:22 And we'll take you and show you where Willie Nelson lives. " 43:24 And they did that. 43:30 And as we flew back, 43:34 from Austin to Medford, and somewhere... 43:41 ...somewhere at 40,000 feet above El Paso... 43:44 Does that not sound familiar? 43:48 ...God gave me these words 43:54 for Terry. 44:00 "I guess, Lord, 44:05 that I've always known about the Son You lost. 44:10 But I didn't fully appreciate the awful cost. 44:14 You looked down with a breaking heart 44:15 and watched Him as he died. 44:19 His mother stood beside Him and softly cried. 44:25 Now I better understand the pain You bore. 44:29 You knew this coming tragedy long before. 44:34 Well, You said He was eternally on the cross. 44:36 You suffered in anticipation Your own Son's loss. 44:41 Not long ago, I held my son 44:46 and watched him die. 44:50 I heard his mother weep and say goodbye. 44:58 We've soaked the pillow soft, 45:03 his mom and I, 45:07 recalling with pain and joy those days gone by, 45:10 thankful for the promised meeting in the sky. 45:13 So I better understand, I better understand the pain You bore. 45:18 And I long for the return of son's, 45:24 Yours and mine, 45:29 so much, much more. " 45:31 Would you open your Bible, please, to Matthew 24. 45:35 Matthew chapter 24. 45:36 We've read from here before and must do it again tonight 45:39 because it's vital to our study together, 45:41 the second coming of Jesus. 45:42 The Blessed Hope toward which all creation moves and longs. 45:47 Matthew chapter 24 and I'm going to read for us several verses 45:51 beginning with the first. 45:52 Matthew chapter 24 and I'll begin with verse 1. 45:57 And we shall see how time allows as we begin 45:59 to read on down through. 46:00 You'll remember now, the context. 46:02 Our Lord Jesus has begun to answer the question 46:06 of His disciples, "Tell us Lord, what will be the sign of 46:08 Your coming at the end of the world?" 46:10 And Jesus said it'll be like this and this and this. 46:13 So follow now while I read. 46:15 Matthew 24:1 46:18 Jesus then departed the temple and His disciples came to Him 46:21 and said, "Look at this beautiful temple. " 46:25 And Jesus said, "Take a good look, but I tell you this. 46:29 There's not going to be one stone left upon another 46:32 that will not be thrown down. " 46:34 Then while He sat on the side of the Mount of Olives, 46:37 the disciples came to Him privately and they said, 46:38 "Lord tell us, when shall these things be and what shall be 46:41 the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?" 46:43 Now I want you to notice, the disciples asked a two fold 46:46 question, but they really, in their minds, had them together. 46:50 When is that temple going to be knocked down? 46:52 Is it going to be the very last day when You come 46:54 in Your second coming? 46:56 And Jesus, in answer, gave them a prophecy 46:59 with a dual application. 47:00 It had an application for the destruction of the 47:02 city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 AD. 47:05 But it had a fuller broader application for the last days 47:08 when Jesus comes in His second coming. 47:10 "Tell us," they said, "what will be the signs of Your coming and 47:15 the destruction of the temple and the end of the world?" 47:18 And Jesus said, "Take heed that no one deceives you. 47:22 For there's going to come, a lot of folks in My name saying, 47:24 'I am Christ,' and will deceive very many. 47:26 You're going to hear of war and rumors of wars. 47:28 But don't be troubled. 47:30 These things are going to come to pass but the end isn't yet. 47:32 Nations are going to rise against nations, 47:34 kingdom against kingdom. 47:35 And there are going to be famines in different places, 47:37 and earthquakes in places where they've never had them before. " 47:40 Oh, and by the way, did you hear the world news tonight? 47:42 Did you happen to hear it? 47:44 You remember we talked about the Cascadia Fault 47:46 about 2 nights ago? 47:47 Did you hear in the world news tonight that just off the 47:50 Oregon coast, just out from Bandon several miles, there was 47:54 an earthquake of over 5, I think 5.5 or something like that. 47:58 Yeah? 47:59 Amazing. 48:00 You know, we need to keep our ear to the ground 48:03 for we're living in the last days. 48:04 And then in verse 8 He says, "These are but the 48:06 beginning of sorrows. 48:08 They're going to deliver you up and you'll be afflicted 48:09 and they're going to kill you and you're going to be hated by 48:12 everyone because of Me. 48:14 Then there are going to be those that are offended 48:17 and some are going to betray one another 48:18 and you'll see hate grow. 48:20 There'll be many false prophets that will come and deceive many. 48:23 And because iniquity abounds, the love of many 48:26 is going to wax cold. 48:27 But he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. 48:31 And then this gospel of the kingdom has to be preached 48:33 into the whole world for a witness unto all nations. 48:36 And then shall the end come. " 48:38 I'm going to pause right there for a moment. 48:41 And we're going to get into it and enlarge upon this 48:42 dual application business. 48:44 Our Lord Jesus said the destruction of the city of 48:46 Jerusalem in 70 AD would be an example. 48:49 It would be the paradigm for the end time and the second coming. 48:54 In the meantime, He said there's going to be 48:56 a lot of difficulties. 48:57 Now the city of Jerusalem was a city of extreme beauty. 49:00 It really was an ancient wonder of the world. 49:05 It was considered to be the place of great pride. 49:09 And it was often referred to by Jewish people as the glory, 49:12 the glory of Jerusalem. 49:14 But the city had rejected Jesus. 49:16 They disallowed Him to preach inside the temple. 49:19 And so Jesus, in Matthew chapter 23 verses 37-38, you remember, 49:24 wept as he overlooked the city. 49:26 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem; how often I would have gathered you 49:29 under My wings like a mother hen does her chicks. 49:31 But you wouldn't let Me. " 49:33 And then He said, "Your house is going to be 49:36 left unto you desolate. " 49:37 He was talking about the temple. 49:38 Now let's talk about some of the parallels and the 49:41 destruction of Jerusalem as it was a sign, a paradigm, 49:46 for the last days. 49:48 In Luke chapter 21, and I want you to turn there with me, 49:51 we need to read from verses 10 and 11. 49:55 Luke chapter 21, reading verses 10 and 11. 50:00 The very same subject matter now. 50:02 Jesus said unto them, "Nation shall rise against nation, 50:05 kingdom against kingdom. 50:06 And there will be great earthquakes in different places, 50:08 famines and pestilences; and fearful sights 50:11 and great wonders there shall be... " 50:13 Now you tell me what it says. 50:15 Where are the great signs and wonders going to be? 50:17 "... in the heavens. " 50:19 Alright. 50:20 Great signs and wonders there are going to be in the heavens. 50:24 Adventists. Adventists. 50:26 That means folks believe in the second coming of Jesus. 50:28 It's one of their main tenants. 50:30 It is a teaching and a belief toward which they move and long. 50:34 And I read not long ago about an old guy by the name of Enoch. 50:38 He's spoken about in Jude, that little one chapter book 50:41 before the Revelation, in verse 14. 50:44 In Jude verse 14, it says about Enoch, 50:48 "Behold, he saw the Lord coming with 50:51 ten thousands of His saints. " 50:53 The hope of the second coming was given to God's children 50:56 in the garden at the time of sin. 50:58 In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, 51:00 God promised, "He will bruise thy head. " 51:03 And that's talking about the ultimate victory 51:05 of our Lord Jesus. 51:06 The apostle Paul, from prison, would write his last letters 51:10 to Timothy and to Titus. 51:11 And he would refer to the second coming as "the blessed hope. " 51:14 I long for the glorious appearing, the blessed hope. 51:17 I want to say to you and I tonight, and all of our hearts, 51:20 it is not only just the blessed hope, it is our only hope. 51:24 It's the only hope for this troubled world of ours. 51:31 Get your kids ready. 51:37 Our Lord Himself said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. 51:42 You believe in God, believe also in Me. " 51:43 John 14 51:44 "In My Father's house are many mansions. 51:46 If it weren't true I would have told you. 51:48 I go to prepare a place for you. 51:50 And if I go, I will come again. " 51:54 Now I want to underscore something for you here. 51:56 And maybe you've never quite thought about it in this light. 51:58 Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled. " 52:07 Your heart. 52:09 The atheist, alright, let his heart be troubled. 52:12 The agnostic, let him be troubled. 52:14 The infidel may be troubled. 52:15 The modernist may be troubled. 52:17 The heathenist and the skeptic might be troubled. 52:20 And the secularist is going to be troubled. 52:21 But let not your heart be troubled 52:23 for Jesus is coming again. 52:25 And His coming is not an allegory or a metaphor 52:27 or some kind of a parable. 52:29 It's real. 52:30 This same Jesus that ascended up into the heavens in a cloud 52:33 is coming back. 52:34 The same Lord that walked the weary miles, the same Jesus 52:37 that calmed the seas, the same Lord. 52:41 To opened blinded eyes, this same Jesus who was beaten bloody 52:45 and dragged the heavy cross and died, and was buried 52:48 in the grave and rose again, is coming again. 52:50 This same Jesus. 52:56 Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14 says 52:58 in the interim, "He's our great High Priest. " 53:01 Ever intercedes for us. 53:04 Philippians chapter 3 verse 20, Paul said, 53:06 "Let our minds always be in heaven 53:08 from where also we look for the coming of our 53:11 great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. " 53:13 At the end of his own life and ministry, he would write to the 53:16 young preacher Timothy in the 4th chapter of the second book 53:19 and the 7th verse, and he said, "I fought a good fight, 53:22 and I've finished the course, and I've kept the faith. 53:25 I've hung in there. 53:26 Henceforth there's laid up for me, a crown of righteousness 53:31 which the Lord will give me at His appearing. 53:33 And not to me only, but to all those 53:35 who anxiously long and look for it. " 53:39 Titus 2:13, the glorious blessed hope of Jesus. 53:45 Revelation chapter 21 says just before He comes on a 53:50 rescue mission, the final mission, He's going to 53:52 stand up from that heavenly courtroom where He's been 53:55 our High Priest and He's going to shout to the whole universe, 53:57 "It is done. " 54:01 It's done. 54:03 I've been asked on several occasions, 54:04 "What does that mean, Lyle?" 54:05 I'll tell you tonight what it means. 54:07 It means that rape and riot and robbery 54:10 and rage and rust are over. 54:11 It's done, it's finished. It's no more. 54:13 And pain and sorrow and separation and sin are finished. 54:16 They're gone, it's no more. 54:18 And no longer will my sweet little granddaughter cry bitter 54:22 tears because of the multiple sclerosis that her mother has. 54:26 "It is done. " 54:29 My favorite preacher, my dear friend Charles Brooks 54:34 said this, and I love it. 54:36 When he breaks through the sky's, 54:40 He's going to tear open the cemeteries. 54:44 Tear them up. 54:49 And the saints are going to come out of their graves 54:53 like popcorn on the top of a hot stove. 54:56 I like that, don't you? 54:58 And we shall be changed. 55:00 We'll be changed. 55:01 Then in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 16 and 17, 55:06 "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, 55:08 with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. 55:10 And the dead in Christ will rise first. 55:12 Then we which are alive and remain shall be... " 55:15 What now? 55:16 "... caught up together with them. " 55:17 Raptured up, snatched up. 55:19 I'm going to fly, folks. 55:22 I took my first airplane ride when I was 5 years old. 55:25 It was in one of those open cockpit things and 55:27 the guy decided he'd do some acrobatics up there. 55:29 And I have a problem with motion sickness and it scared me 55:33 and I was really cold besides all of that. 55:34 And from that time on, I haven't really cared for flying. 55:37 Peggy loves it, on the other hand. 55:39 My son Troy loves it. 55:41 They go together and fly in helicopters and all kinds 55:44 of wonderful things. 55:45 I fly when I have to. 55:47 And you've heard about white knuckle landers? 55:49 I'm white knuckle taker off'er and everything in between. 55:52 And there comes a little bit of a bump, and I jump. 55:54 And Peggy says, "It's alright dear. 55:56 It's going to be alright. " 55:57 I've been asked on occasions more than once, 56:00 "Are you afraid of flying?" 56:01 And I say, "No, I'm not afraid to fly. 56:04 I'm not afraid of the fall. 56:05 It's that sudden stop that bothers me, however. " 56:08 And besides that, I read from my Jesus, 56:11 "Low... Low I'm with you always. " 56:20 I'm going to fly. 56:22 I'm going to be snatched up 56:29 higher 56:32 and higher 56:40 until with my boy, 56:44 my father-in-law and my daddy, 56:48 you and your loved ones, 56:54 meet together in the arms of Jesus. 57:04 One sat alone 57:08 beside the highway begging. 57:12 His eyes were blind, the light he couldn't see. 57:17 He clutched his rags and shivered in the shadows. 57:21 And then Jesus came 57:23 and set the captive free. 57:25 When Jesus comes, the tempters power is broken. 57:28 When Jesus comes, the tears are wiped away. 57:33 For He takes the gloom and fills the life with glory. 57:37 And all is changed 57:39 when Jesus comes to stay. 57:42 Let's pray. 57:44 Thank You, dear God, for Your promise. 57:47 Thank You, sweet Jesus, 57:50 for Your testimony given in a courtroom, "I will come again. " 57:54 Your promise to your friends in the upper room, 57:56 "I will come again. " 57:58 It's the blessed hope. 58:02 It's that promise that gives us the courage 58:05 to leave the fresh mound 58:08 and face tomorrow and the next day. 58:11 Even so, 58:14 come Lord Jesus. 58:17 Amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17